


Fangs

by zeldadestry



Category: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Genre: M/M, Quadruple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-18
Updated: 2008-09-18
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:36:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeldadestry/pseuds/zeldadestry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Man wove a spell, a starved snake hypnotizing its hopeless prey, so why couldn't Dan look away?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fangs

Wade fixed his eyes on Dan when he spoke to him. Man wove a spell, a starved snake hypnotizing its hopeless prey, so why couldn't Dan look away?

"Had a man like you once in my gang, Dan. Met him in Leadville. Smart fellow, but down on his luck with the cards. He owed more debts than he could ever pay."

"I don't gamble."

"Don't you? Living out here with your family when you can't make it work on that dried up farm?"

"That may be a failure, but it ain't a sin." He coughed on the last word like it scratched up his throat.

"Ain't that a shitty consolation. But the gambling's not the comparison, no. He had a pretty face like you, Dan, and he was soft like you."

"Shut your fucking mouth."

"Wasn't an insult. Can I call you a gentleman, then? That's all I mean to say."

"I'm no gentleman."

"Are you a cutthroat?"

"No."

"Then you'll have to call yourself a gentleman. Only two kinds of men in the world. You'd be a lot better off if you'd accept that."

"I should shoot the smirk off your face."

"But you won't. Be mighty rude, wouldn't it? I reckon you'd consider it a gratuitous cruelty." He'd always known how to play. Now he just had to wait. He waited while Dan wound his watch, he waited while Dan checked his gun, he waited while Dan stared out the window. All along, he kept his hands behind his head, stared into space, like he had no cares in the world. And he didn't, not really, he knew Dan was already in his hands.

"So what happened?"

There it was, curiosity, just like he'd planted it. Now Dan was ready to listen. "To who?"

"To that man you said was like me."

Ben smiled. "Right. Him. Well, I knew I shouldn't let him in the gang, on account of his being somewhat squeamish about cold-blooded murder, but I couldn't help myself."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm like any other man at the end of the day. I got no defenses against a pretty face. And let me tell you, danger agreed with him, lit a fire in his blood so that he couldn't keep his hands off me."

Dan shifted in his chair. "Don't know what you mean."

"Yeah," Ben said. "You do. You know exactly what I mean."


End file.
